Southern California -- this just in

Man arrested in wife's death -- 30 years after the fact

April 13, 2011 | 9:32
pm

For 30 years, Michael Lubahn Clark maintained that his wife left him in the middle of the night.

On Wednesday, the 57-year-old former Torrance resident was arrested at his home in Huntington Beach on suspicion of killing Carol Jeanne Lubahn. He is expected to be arraigned Thursday on murder charges.

Clark’s wife was 28 when he reported her missing April 8, 1981, said Sgt. Jeremiah Hart, spokesman for the Torrance Police Department. They had been married 10 years and had two children, Hart said. Her body was never found.

"I knew something was up because she wanted to sell the house," Clark was quoted as saying. "She wanted me to sign some papers. That's what pissed her off. She came to bed. Later, I heard the garage door go up."

Clark told the Daily Breeze he thought she would be back in a few days and did not immediately inform police that she was missing. He divorced her in absentia three years later, according to the paper.